The Favor Alchemy Sky God didn't answer for a long while and it seemed that she wouldn't. Ryu could only leave it be and he turned to leave.
"... If you tried to move it you would only destroy it. The only thing you can do is to leave a method of finding this location again, because it will definitely move after you leave. However, leaving such a method behind will be very difficult."
Ryu nodded slightly. They wouldn't leave such an easily exploitable loophole, if he wanted to leave behind a method of tracking his Ruin it wouldn't be simple.
After Ryu left, the Ruin could likely appear anywhere between the First to Sixth Heaven. It might even appear on one of the Heavenly Paths.
In order to find it again, it would take like thousands of years. This is because in order to find it this time, Ryu relied on many historical accountings and clues that spread over tens of thousands of years. Even if he knew what he was looking for specifically, it would take a great deal of time to lock down its location again, and Ryu simply didn't feel like waiting so long. By the time this time period changed, he doubted this pool would even be of any real use to him any longer.
If it unluckily appeared in the Incomplete Heavenly Path like the Unbalance Art Sect, he couldn't even go back now. Even if it appeared in the Complete Heavenly Path, thousands of years from now, he would have already transcended it as well. This didn't even mention the fact that finding clues about a Ruin appearing in either one of them would be nearly impossible. It would probably require millions of years before he could lock it down in any one of those locations.
This was all to say that Ryu was very much aware of how he would be out of luck the moment he stepped out of here unless he could do something about it.
Suddenly, his gaze narrowed.
That was right, if this Ruin planned teleporting and moving after he left, there should be a formation here. The formation itself wasn't too important, but the way it functioned was. A formation wouldn't have the power within it to execute such an enormous task, especially not when it was designed to only activate once every several million years, if that.
This meant that the type of formation here was one that would gather up qi from the surrounding to execute the task it needed to. As such, it wouldn't be as contained as most formations and would have some leakage, though contained.
For someone with a Spacetime Soul Nature like Ryu, following this leakage through a stream of spacetime wouldn't be difficult so long as he left a unique marker behind.
Ryu's gaze sharpened and he began to scan the region. He was looking for the hidden formation as he was sure there was one, however what he actually found surprised him.
'... I see...'
Ryu had been looking at it wrong all along. This place was entirely stationary, it was he who had been transported here. He had likely not noticed because his mind had been warped at the same time. But if he was correct, the moment he stepped out of here, he would likely step into a barren place.
This made much more sense when he thought about it.
The more powerful the individual, the stronger teleportation channel they needed. Likewise, if you were attempting to transport a large amount of energy like what was within this pool, it would take an enormous channel, one larger than what one would even need to move a Dao Lord.
If you tried to transport this pool normally, even if you didn't have a Spacetime affinity like Ryu, tracking it would be easy so long as you had a certain understanding of space, much like Transcended Sky Gods who could tear their way into the void.
However, if instead of transporting the entire pool, you only transported the doorway to the pool, just how much easier would it be?
"That means I'm..."
Ryu's head snapped as he looked around. He was suddenly very interested in this place and where he was currently. He didn't feel anything different about the region at all, so it would be logical for this place to still be on the Fourth Heaven, but Ryu didn't believe that.
It was more likely that this place was simulating an environment that he was used to so that he wouldn't suspect a thing. It was clear that whoever had created this place was extraordinarily cautious, Ryu even had a feeling that trying to exit this place would end in failure. Unless he had absolute strength, breaking out of this place would be impossible, there was no way they would make it easy.
'Could I be... on the Ninth Heaven right now? No, maybe I was wrong all along. The Unbalance Art Sect appeared in the Heavenly Path, could this place be within the Heavenly Path as well?'
Ryu's senses continued to spin. He wasn't in a hurry to leave because he had a feeling that whatever location was outside of this hidden underground cave could give him a great opportunity, it was only a question of whether or not he could grasp it.
There was only one exit out of here, but that location would definitely seamlessly bring him back to the Fourth Heaven. As for everything else, it was nothing but reddened walls, radiating heat due to the lava pool they surrounded. As a result, there was nothing but solid red rock all around aside from the nine mighty pillars that surrounded the pool.
It suddenly clicked for Ryu.
The Nine Pillar Flame Sect wasn't a formation power like the Unbalance Art Sect was. Whatever protections they had would be built upon their own unique foundations, they wouldn't trust outsiders for such an important matter.
That meant that the defenses of this place, all of its inner workings, all of its secrets were built into these nine pillars.
If there was a way out of here, it was definitely them.